Getting gorgeous and getting even: This here is a spite-fueled diet and exercise plan.

I think I’ll call it “The Park Pack”

In the park near my house, I see every morning two high school age boys. They run together, first a lap around the park path, and then off into the beyond, until they return again later with wet shirts and sweaty hair. They see me, too, every morning as I walk around the park path. We’ve never said hello, in all the weeks that I’ve been walking there.

This morning, as I was glancing at my watch and readying myself for a one-minute sprint, I heard them approaching from behind me. “Oh, God,” I thought to myself. “They’re going to see me running; but there’s nothing for it.” So, still hearing them behind me, I launched into my sprint. And that’s when it happened.

They passed me; nothing unusual. But as they passed, one of them looked over his shoulder, and, smiling, said “Good morning.”

“Good morning!” I said back, and felt suddenly incredibly proud: I had been noticed.